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The Echo of Destiny
Chapter 11: The Right path
Joseph Green sat in his office, watching another Daily Bugle report of the war situation.
"With Four days remaining for Karabai's deadline America is mostly clear of alien invaders, though other countries have taken heavy casualties despite the intervention of an international team of Avengers, whether they are involved in Norman Osborn's Initiative is unknown at this point in time…we've just received word that Aeon has been dismissed from the Initiative, despite the loss of our supposed saviour, Norman Osborn promises our safety, multiple news organisation are gathering at Camp Hammond for the arrival of a new Initiative team" The reporter explained.
Leaning his head back Joseph sighed.
"You're an asshole" He said to himself.
Osborn was on his way, along with Hawkeye. If what the "reformed" villains said was true then Hawkeye was really Bullseye, one of Daredevils greatest enemies. The blind super hero was doomed, at least that's the way Joseph saw it. Outside, Puma, Typhoid Mary, Komodo, Batwing and Constrictor got onto a S.H.I.E.L.D. transport that would take them to their next mission.
"Shit I can't believe that Aeon guy left, he looked cool" Batwing said.
"Rumours say that the guy killed a prisoner then destroyed part of the tower" Komodo said.
"And lets not start believing everything that comes out of Strucker's mouth, I've watched the man, he hates Osborn and the unregistered heroes we bring in" Puma explained.
"I hear you buddy, guys like Strucker and the rest of those freaks are just in this for the glory, they don't believe in redemption" Constrictor said.
Typhoid Mary opened the envelope containing their mission details and merely shrugged her shoulders. The other members of the Shadow Initiative looked and acknowledged the orders they were given. Their mission was to hunt down and capture Sieg.
In LA, Chase and the other surviving Runaways ran to Molly's room to see the Hammer agents rolling her bed towards the door.
"Where are you taking her?" Chase asked with a growl.
One of the agents smacked Chase across the face, knocking him to the ground. Nico tried to reach for a scalpel but was kicked to the floor by another agents. The commander pressed a button on his gauntlet, shocking Xavin until he fell to the floor.
"What the hell are you people doing?" Jake asked as he ran into the room.
"Change of plan doc, Osborn wants us to take the Klara and Hayes girls to Avengers tower" The Commander said.
"Like hell you are Molly still hasn't recovered from her coma, Karolina barely survived surgery and Klara is in no condition to be fighting for Osborn" Jake explained.
"And whoever said she'd be fighting for us?" The Commander asked.
"Why else would Osborn want them and not the other Runaways?"
Victorious and Ant-woman smiled as they looked down at the hospital containing the Runaways.
"I remember this very well…someone's going to die today" Victorious grinned, looking to the future Captain America.
"And we'll make sure of it" Ant-Woman said, rubbing her hands against Victorious's chest.
Victorious pulled Ant-woman's helmet off, revealing her blonde hair and young features. He pressed his lips against hers, gripping her ponytail tightly.
"We will not cease to exist Cassie, I promise you that, its like War Lord says, the sacrifices we make are necessary" Victorious explained as he contacted Iron Warlord.
"Armoury disposed of Osborn's Young Avengers, including that fake Enchantress, where are Hawkeye and Spidey?" Cassie asked, putting her helmet back on.
"I've lost contact with them, but dont worry…complete your mission" Warlord said before cutting off the channel.
Victorious sighed; it was back to business as usual. Captain America watched as Victorious and Ant-woman took flight to the hospital. His memories of this day were fuzzy, alls he remembered was taking over the mantle for Bucky and helping Warlord to create a society of order. He remembered in vivid detail the punishments that Warlord put every super villain through. Public execution, Gertrude would have been ashamed of the barbarism. But other heroes like X-force and the Fantastic Four decided to end the killing. They fought the Avengers, engulfing the world in a Civil War. But eventually all of the rebels were defeated and with the aid of a traitor within X-force the heroes were brain washed into serving Iron Warlord.
'Is what we're doing really necessary?' Cap wondered before climbing down the edge of the building and running towards the Hospital.
Laurie laid down on the bed that had been put inside the subbasement. Rockslide, Dust and the adults minus Darwin and Cable had gone to assist in other countries. Now she was left with nothing to do but wonder why she was back. Leaning her head against the pillow, Laurie put her hands together and prayed for those who would die. Cable widened his eyes as he sensed a presence on the surface of mansion. He nodded to Kid Vulcan, who flew out of the subbasement and into the school grounds. Her red hair glistened in the sun light, like fire it waved around like it was alive. Gabriel stood ready in the presence of the beautiful woman, who reminded him so much of his brothers wife. She even wore a modified version of the very first X-men uniform, but the X on her chest was replaced with a symbol of the phoenix and in the place of the cowl she wore a domino mask.
"Who are you?" Vulcan asked, weary around this woman.
"The future!" She whispered with a smile. "We are all the future!"
Suddenly, multiple portals opened and out came future versions of the X-men. Bishop and Shard, a man in a blue suit with yellow bandages across his hands and face, someone wearing a version of the War Machine armour with the X-men colour scheme, a Chinese girl wearing the traditional X-men uniform, older versions of Rockslide, Surge, X-23 and Magik, a girl wearing a feminine version of Magneto's costume, a bulky boy with apelike feet, a blonde haired girl with Ruby skin and quartz shades and to Vulcan's surprise a white furred version of Beast and a perfectly healthy Daken wearing Wolverine's X-force uniform.
"Torque, Simian, Push, secure the others, I'll deal with Vulcan!" The red haired leader said, aiming a hand at Vulcan's chest.
Gabriel suddenly flew upwards as a blast of flame shot forth from the woman's hand. He looked down to see the members of this supposed X-men team run into the ruins of the mansion. Cable emerged from the mansion wreckage, using telekinetic energy to push Simian, Push and Torque away.
"Who the hell are these guys?" Darwin asked.
"They're from the future…that red head leading them is Hope!" Cable said.
"Whose Hope?"
"The mutant child that we made all that fuss about"
Hope raised her arms, creating two flaming phoenix talons. Cable flew forward, grabbing Hope by her cheeks and throwing her aside.
"I expect you not to go easy on me Hope" Cable said.
"Yes sir!" Was Hope's only response as she slashed Cable across the chest with her phoenix Talons.
"CABLE!!!" Noah yelled as the deaged mercenary fell to the floor.
"He'll be fine just focus on the fight" Darwin said as he kicked Shard across the face.
"Who are you supposed to be?" Ink asked the girl wearing the Magneto costume.
"I am Magneta, mistress of magnetism"
"Sure you are" Ink chuckled.
Magneta suddenly thrust her hands forward, smacking Ink with a steel girder. Gentle took a blast from Bishop and grappled with Simian. Torque span around, smacking Loa and Trance across the head. Match fired a stream of flames at Torque, who easily defended himself against the flames with his cyclone speed. But Indra and Onyxx ran forward, smashing Torque across the head. Onyxx yelled, jumping at Beast, but the elderly X-man slammed his feet into Onyxx's head, throwing him into the ground. Darwin blocked a punch from shard, countering with a kick to the head. But Ruby lifted her glasses up, firing an optic blast into Darwin's chest.
"All right, that's was one of the weirdest things that has happened to me so far" Darwin said, shaking his head.
"Shit, SOMEONE GET ONLINE TO THE MALKIN BUILDING!!!" Kid Vulcan yelled.
"HAVING SOME TROUBLES THERE KID!!" Cable yelled, flying towards Hope and punching her across the face. "EVERYONE WE NEED TO GET AWAY FROM THE MANSION NOW! GATHER TOGETHER!!!"
"BUT THAT'S SUICIDE!!" Loa yelled.
"FOLLOW MY ORDERS!!!" Cable roared, pushing Hope to the ground with his TK.
He landed behind Darwin, throwing Bishop, Shard, Simian and Torque aside with one sweep of his arm.
"Impossible, how could he be this powerful?" Push asked, her own Telekinesis proving to be ineffective against Cable.
"You never get into a fight without knowing something about your opponent, the Phoenix didn't just deage me, but it also cured me of the technorganic virus…now I'll show you just how powerful I REALLY AM!!!!" Cable yelled as telekinetic energy flashed around him.
Noah ran out of the subbasement, carrying Laurie with him.
"There she is, get her!" Surge said as she dashed towards Noah.
He ducked underneath her punch, running away as she fired electricity at him. Skidding to a halt, Noah widened his eyes as Rockslide raised his fist. But all of a sudden, tears' started running down the rock mans eyes.
"Oh man…NOT AGAIN!!" He yelled, falling to the floor and crying his eyes out.
"Wow, looks like you can still get him Laurie" Noah said while Laurie blushed.
Cable slammed Simian and Torque together, and threw Magneta into the woods. He blocked Bishops strike, and returned fire with a TK blast to his chest.
"I don't understand what's going on, Bishop and Shard shouldn't even be alive in twenty years" Cable said.
"Don't you see teacher, its him…his actions are destroying our world" Hope said, her Phoenix aura growing larger as she flew towards Cable.
"Him…VULCAN GET DOWN TO BASEMENT AND RETRIEVE SIEG'S SWORD!!!"
The X-man War Machine began firing his weapons at Darwin, whose skin had changed to a metallic substance. He ran at War Machine, the best way to survive would be to take out his weapons. So his arms turned into tentacles that wrapped around the mans shoulder guns. War Machine fired his uni-beam, but Darwin's skin changed to a diamond substance, reflecting the beam back into War Machine's chest. As the man flew back from the force, Darwin ripped the cannons off his shoulders and dropped them to the floor.
"He's all yours Onyxx!" He said with a smirk.
Onyxx slammed his fist into the back of War Machine, then grabbed his head and threw him into Ruby and Magik. Running to Darwin's side, the pair awaited the arrival of the other students. Trance and Loa were the first to arrive, with Anole shortly after. The apparent future X-23, Daken and Beast ran towards them, flashing their claws. But Noah ran in front of them, blinding them with a flash of light from his hand.
"DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY!!!" Hope yelled.
Vulcan landed in the circle that the group formed, carrying both Blindfold and Sieg's sword.
"I see the future, it's a world that isn't worth living in" Blindfold said.
"Tell us about it later" Gabriel said.
"No…I can see, my death"
Cable landed in front of the group, closing his eyes as he began to concentrate.
"Hey Nephew, what are you about to do?" Gabriel asked.
"Just hold still, this wont be a second!" Cable growled.
"NOOOO!!!" Hope screamed as the Young X-men disappeared in a flash of blue light.
The young X-men felt the wind against their skin as they travelled at incredible speeds. They crashed through the window of the Crowner building, setting off an alarm and destroying most of the desks and computers around them. Cable was unconscious on the floor, with Darwin already checking his condition.
"Damn, that really took a lot out of him" Darwin said.
"What happened, what did you see in the future Blindfold?" Anole asked.
"It was clouded, but I saw a world of fascism, and much later a world that wasn't worth living in…the spirit's presence is changing that future already" Blindfold said, "looking" at Sieg's sword.
"So what happens now?" Ink asked.
"You boys and girls are going to tell me exactly what happened before you got here, and your gonna officially join the resistance"
The young X-men looked to the doorway to see Security standing with his arms crossed. With a simple click of his fingers he turned off the alarms and awaited the X-men's explanation.
Pixie and Reckless had begun running through castle Doom. She didn't know what they were looking for, but Reckless was kicking down doors to find it. He came to a halt as he entered a hallway, paintings of Victor were hung up on the wall with tapestries and dinner tables stretched across the walls and floor respectively. And in the centre of the room were two men that Pixie thought looked scary. One was tall, with rippling muscles and an axe on his shoulder. A purple hood covered his face whilst the other man covered his eyes with a pair of sunglasses. He was equipped with two Katana style blades and had scars across his well toned that to Pixie seemed disturbingly well laid out.
"Okay, who are those guys?" Pixie asked.
But she got no response from Reckless, who instead pointed his finger at the far corner of the room. It seemed that he wanted Pixie to run ahead and find Domino. As she fluttered above the ground, Reckless walked towards the two men.
"She's scared" The shorter one pointed out, looking at Pixie.
"You can have your fun later Mister X, right now we have work to do" The hooded man said.
"So we're about to have fun then" Mister X said as he drew his swords.
Reckless grabbed the hilt of his Ninjato and flipped backwards as Headsman slammed his axe into the ground. Drawing his sword, Reckless blocked a strike from Mister X. The telepath mutant widened his eyes, for he didn't detect anything from the masked man's mind. Reckless kicked Mister X in the chest, pushing him to the floor. He then slid across the floor, dodging Headsman's axe. Jumping to his feet, he blocked another swing from Headsman's axe, countering with a punch to the mans head. Ducking underneath Mister X's sword swing, Reckless slammed his head into X's face. The psychopath's glasses shattered and he looked at Reckless with a furious look on his face. He thrust his sword forward, but much to his surprise, Reckless allowed the blade to pierce through his hand. Again he head butted Mister X, grabbing the handle of the sword, Reckless kneed X in the stomach, taking his left hand sword away. He span round, barely dodging Headsman's axe and stabbing the taller man in the shoulder. Pulling the sword out of his hand, Reckless wielded both swords, blocking strikes from the two Black ops agents.
Outside, Archangel slashed a group of Doom bots apart with his wings, whilst Deadpool drew his swords and ran at the Doom bots in front of him. He waved his swords around as the Doom bots fired, hitting his legs and shoulders.
"Damn…I knew I shouldn't have watched that movie" Deadpool said, coughing in pain. "TO HELL WITH SWORDS THEN!!" He yelled, pulling an M16 off his back. "IN THE WORDS OF A FAMOUS ACTOR SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!!!"
The merc with the mouth fired the M16's grenade launcher, destroying the group of Doom bots with multiple explosions.
"Guns work a lot better than swords Ryan Reynolds, now write that down!"
"DEADPOOL WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!!" Archangel yelled.
"Just making sure they get the movie right, that is if I ever get a movie"
Pixie flew as fast as she could through the hallways of the castle until she reached a set of spiral stairs.
'Hmmm, most evil dungeons are underground, maybe Domino will be under there' Pixie thought before flying down the stone steps.
Wolverine walked into Bucky's apartment, with Cloak and Dagger by his side. The New Avengers were waiting for him, with a change of clothes ready.
"So what's the plan, join up with this resistance they have?" Mockingbird asked.
"Jessica and I are definitely going, we got a call from Cap that says he's got Dani" Luke said.
"Things are more complicated than that…Osborn's got his own Avengers, the young Avengers are missing and the Runaways were attacked, some of them might not even survive" Logan explained, putting on his yellow costume.
"How do you know about that?" Ronin asked.
"It seems that these other Avengers don't have the most loyal team mates, I asked her to come with me but she refused, you guys might want to take a seat, especially you Barton, what I'm about to tell you is pretty rough news"
Skaar and the future Josh Foley were cowering in fear as Iron Warlord threw the woman across the room. She was dressed in Destiny's Brotherhood costume and Josh, his skin continually altering between his black and gold shines feared for the girl beneath the mask.
"How much, DID YOU TELL HIM!!!" Warlord yelled, picking Destiny up by her neck.
"Everything, the identities of Hawkeye and Captain America, Phoenix's brain washing, the stealing of all emotions on the planet…all so they could find a way to stop that future" Destiny explained, her voice remaining defiant as Warlord tightened his grip on her neck.
"You foolish woman, you can't stop destiny!"
"I can no longer see the future Warlord, that means that anything can happen from this point onwards, the future is theirs now, they can make it what they want"
"Wrong…my order will come about, it doesn't matter if I lose just a few of my men, for you don't know my identity Destiny, that's something I kept from all of you…where are Spider-man and Hawkeye going?" He asked.
"To find their true paths, to restore things to the way they are supposed to be" Destiny said, smiling beneath her mask.
"What are you talking about?"
"He knows, Joseph knows of the deal, I told him about it…he's going to sacrifice his very existence and I commend him for it, he's a better man than his father, he's not sacrificing love for life, he is sacrificing life, his life…your failing Warlord"
With those final words, Warlord shot a hole straight through Destiny's chest, vaporising her heart. Her mask fell to the floor, revealing her face, a face that lacked eyes. She had remembered how she felt in the past/present about the future she saw. Now she died happy, for she had helped two men find the right path.
Emma Frost smiled as she watched Osborn's news report. He had presented his version of the X-men and already her unsuspecting teammates were in outrage.
"I can't believe Calvin and that Pointer guy!" Bobby growled.
"How did I not see this coming?" Cannonball asked while Sunspot shrugged his shoulders.
"The question is what are we going to do about it?" Colossus asked, his sister Magik right beside him.
"You guys go out and assist Slade's worldwide Avengers, bring any wounded straight here so that Josh can treat them, I want us focusing on saving lives here people" Cyclops said, immediately breaking off into leadership mode.
Emma smiled as the X-men began to return to their posts. They were still unaware of her betrayal, and her Cuckoos were doing exactly as she told them to. Celeste wanted to find Sieg, and that was exactly what the three girls went out to do. They were sitting in the Initiative helicopter with not only the Shadow Initiative but Nuke, Venom, Yelena Belova, Ghost, Paladin and Penance. Their mission was to capture Sieg and that was a mission they would carry out.
Norman waved to the cameras proudly as the media began interviewing and taking pictures of his X-men. Mystique had taken on the guise of Professor Xavier while Michael or Weapon Omega as he went by now was wearing a red and white costume with the Omega symbol on his chest. Mimic had shaved his beard and cut his hair and was now wearing a blue and white costume with short sleeves and blue bands on his wrists. He finally had the chance he always wanted; the chance to be part of a legal government sanctioned mutant team. And Osborn again had the media in his hands, straying public opinion in his favour.
"With the success of my Thunderbolts rehabilitation program I am now appointing the reformed super villain the Hood as director of Camp Hammond" Norman said.
No one questioned it, people accepted the Hood. However for some of the old school Avengers and Gauntlet that was it. Joseph walked through the corridors of the prison complex in the Negative zone. Around him were former heroes like Turbo and Firestar, people that weren't even heroes anymore. Osborn was turning the country into a Fascist state, and Joseph had had enough of it. So he and Wonder Man, Stingray, Tigra and anyone else who was still loyal to the old Avengers ideal made their choice.
"What exactly do you think your doing Gauntlet?"
Gauntlet swung round to see Electro and Mysterio ready for battle. He flexed the fingers of his gauntlet; the other Avengers were waiting outside of the prison so if he got into a fight inside then he was on his own. The two villains looked eager to fight; unfortunately Gauntlet couldn't take the risk of getting the prisoners killed. But as soon as the two villains prepared to strike two arrows flew into their backs. The arrows injected them with enough tranquillisers to send them both falling to the floor. Gauntlet looked down the corridor to see someone dressed in a purple costume with a bow in his hand and guns on his waist.
"I'll tell you what he's doing, he's finally taking the right path!" The future Hawkeye said before throwing a device onto the floor.
The device blinked and flashed with a brilliant light. As soon as Gauntlet opened his eyes he gasped at his luck. This Hawkeye had opened all the cell doors and the defence systems. At the Baxter building, Warlord slammed his fist into the wall; Hawkeye had taken the buildings N-zone gate to the prison as well as an EMP device.
'Damn you Blindfold, damn you' Warlord thought. "Nico…have you found Joseph yet?" Warlord asked.
"He tracked down Strange and Voodoo sir, not only has he told them of our existence but he's had them transport him to Mephisto's realm" The Sorceress Supreme explained.
"What could he be trying to gain by going to Mephisto's realm?" Warlord asked.
"Destiny must have told him of the glitch we detected in reality, she must have told him of Mephisto's change"
"DAMN HER! HOW COULD JOSEPH BE SO STUPID!!!" Iron Warlord yelled, punchign the wall in rage.
The future Spider-man walked through the fires of Mephisto's realm. He removed his mask, revealing his platinum blonde hair and green eyes. Turning back to the portal he smiled at Dr Strange and the new Sorcerer Supreme Voodoo. He mouthed the words thank you before the portal closed. Walking across the fiery fields, Joseph Parker looked up at the red eyes glowing in the darkness.
"Why have you come to my domain?" The voice asked.
"I've come here to set things right!"
"I have no idea what you are talking about" Mephisto said as he appeared in front of Joseph.
"Shut up, I want you to restore the marriage of Mary-Jane Watson and Peter Parker, with their Aunt May alive and healthy…and that's not all I want" Joseph said.
"Do not assume you can make demands from me boy, still your boldness is entertaining, what are your other terms?" Mephisto asked.
"Bring back the child they lost so long ago, the child that that bastard Osborn never gave a chance"
Sieg carried Julian's body through the streets of New York. Every place was deserted so he made no attempt to hide the tears in his eyes. Looking at Julian's body, Sieg began to imagine the reactions of the X-men, especially X-23. She would be ready to give Frost exactly what she deserved. He frowned as he saw a helicopter flying above him. The door opened, revealing the Shadow Initiative, the Cuckoos and the Thunderbolts. Sieg put Julian on the ground and grinded his teeth together in anger. As Osborn's hit men flew down towards him, Sieg thought something that he hoped Celeste would detect.
'Attack me, break my heart, kill my friends…. alls that does is show me the path I have to take!'
With those thoughts he ran into battle.
Warlord's plan was failing, that much was known by the two Marvels as they watched the Young Avengers exit the cave. They were ready to fly out and strike them when suddenly, a meteorite crashed into the mountain, throwing the teenagers into the snow. Both Kree purebreds smiled as Karabai's forces began to attack Wundagore. General Kin looked at where the two Marvels had been; he could have sworn he saw two costumed heroes standing there. Turning his attention to the youths on the mountain, he hovered down to their level.
"Well well well, what do we have here?" Kin asked.
"People who are gonna kick your ass!" Speed said as he ran at Kin.
But the general took flight upwards and threw a meteorite at Speed. Tommy ran backwards, dodging the meteorite but slipping on the ice.
"Be careful guys he could be dangerous" Kate said as she fired her bow.
But the arrow stopped just inches from Kin's chest. He smirked as the teenagers looked at him in shock.
"You guys seemed to have met the worse kind of opponent for you, do you really think the names of each general are a way to identify us…no, I AM KIN THE GENERAL OF KARABAI'S AIRFORCE AND MASTER OF METAL!!! Kin yelled.
Hulkling suddenly yelled in agony as his piercings were pulled off of his ears. Wiccan ran to his boyfriend's aid, but his crown flew off his head, smacking Tommy's face. Kate threw her equipment off as her sword and arrows began to fly into the air and float around Kin. Patriot threw his shield aside and frantically pulled off his stars. Suddenly the shield flew into Vision's chest, knocking him into the air. Stature caught the android, grinding her teeth together as flying soldiers and aliens began to surround them. Kin moved towards Wiccan and Speed, surrounding them with the arrows he manipulated.
"TIME FOR MY FIRST KILL!!!" Kin yelled in delight.
Suddenly, much to Kin's shock, the arrows around the two boys were disintegrated. He turned his head and grinned as he saw two Avengers ready for combat. Slade summoned his shield and scythe whilst Wanda looked to Kin with pure rage stretched across her face. Her hands glowed with hex energy as she floated off of the snow. Before rushing into battle, she yelled words she had wanted to yell for so long.
"DON'T YOU TOUCH MY CHILDREN!!!"
Next Chapter 12: The right path part 2
Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter